Family of former Short Pump MS football player settles lawsuit against Henrico Schools

The boy, who is referred to as “DJ” in the lawsuit, was a seventh-grader at Short Pump Middle School and played on the school’s football team when the incident occurred Oct. 13, 2017. He was considered special needs and was being educated with an individualized education plan, or IEP, according to the suit.

While changing his clothes before football practice, DJ and other Black students were held down against their will while other players simulated sex acts on the boys and taunted them with racial slurs, according to the lawsuit.

The boys who were involved in the alleged sexual battery, who were white or non-Black, also videotaped the assault and posted it on social media, adding subtitles and voice overs that were racially charged, according to the lawsuit.

Hundreds of people from school and beyond viewed the video, which led to students bullying DJ about being “raped,” according to court documents. DJ’s parents requested a waiver to send him to another school. But students from his new school also had seen the video, the lawsuit alleges.

The plaintiffs argued in the lawsuit that the sexual battery and dangerous school environment caused disruption to DJ’s learning and that he was denied a free and appropriate public education.

The complaint filed by DJ’s parents, seeking a total of $350,000, also listed the school’s former principal Thomas McAuley and football coach Scott Bowers as defendants.

McAuley is now the principal of Pocahontas Middle School, according to the school’s website.

A week before the incident on Oct. 13, 2017, Bowers, McAuley and other school administrators allegedly were made aware of a different incident involving racial slurs directed at Black members of the football team in the locker room following a game, according to the lawsuit.

DJ’s father emailed Bowers about the incident in the locker room involving bullying and a subsequent physical altercation on Oct. 5, 2017, the lawsuit claims. Bowers allegedly responded and said that he was aware of the incident, according to the suit. Following this incident, it was agreed that football players were no longer allowed in the locker room without adult supervision, according to court documents.

But eight days later, DJ was allegedly sexually battered and assaulted by two other players in the locker room, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint argues that the defendants breached duty of care when they allowed football players to be left unsupervised for a long enough time for DJ to be sexually battered and taunted. DJ also incurred medical bills and related expenses, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia after the defendants removed the case to federal court on Dec. 5, 2019. It was originally filed in Henrico County Circuit Court on Oct. 15, 2019.

The plaintiffs alleged violations of DJ's 14th Amendment rights to bodily integrity, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and common law gross negligence and willful and wanton negligence.

The plaintiffs also had alleged a violation of section 504 of Vocational rehabilitation Act of 1973, which forbids organizations from denying people with disabilities equal opportunities, but a judge granted the defendants' motion to dismiss that claim.

The suit was settled in federal court last month and the defendants agreed to pay a settlement to DJ. The documents containing the distributions are filed under seal, and therefore not available as a public record. The trust will distribute funds beginning after DJ turns 18 years old, to pay for his educational expenses and other needs.

“The matter has been resolved,” HCPS spokesman Andy Jenks said in a statement to the Citizen. “We are determined to continue to provide the highest quality education to all students.”

Charlotte Hodges, the attorney representing DJ and his family, did not respond to calls and emails from the Citizen.

When the video showing DJ and his peers being assaulted began to spread on social media in 2017, it evoked a public uproar and led the school's football season to come to a sudden end.

Weeks after the incident, HCPS announced the creation of a new job role within the district that would undertake diversity-related issues and eventually hired Monica Manns as to fill that role as its chief equity, diversity and opportunity officer. The school district later created the “Equity Ambassador” program in its high schools (designed to give students a greater voice in issues of equity and diversity) and began to require staff to participate in annual cultural sensitivity training.

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Anna Bryson is the Henrico Citizen's education reporter and a Report for America corps member. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work, and RFA will match it dollar for dollar.